


Gently into that Good Night

by heffermonkey



Series: The Incubator Verse [9]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe, Deathfic, Goodbyes, M/M, Master/Slave, Peace, slave verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:12:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heffermonkey/pseuds/heffermonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve & Danny say their final goodbyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steve

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm doing things a little backwards here. But fact is, The Incubator verse that I work on periodically when motivation hits, has become a much bigger thing than I ever imagined or hoped for. Sometimes my brain scares me with the ideas I come up with for this verse and there is a lot to be written and finished and told.
> 
> However - I wrote the end a long long, long time ago, with plans on wrapping up the series with them, one eventual fine day. That hasn't happened and yet there these two fics languish in my folder, gathering dust and nothing else. So I've chosen to post them, as companion pieces and as part of the Incubator verse.
> 
> Yes they are death fics, but the characters are older, wiser and have lived extraordinary lives. I tried to give their deaths as much justice as I did their lives in the verse I created for them.
> 
> This isn't the end of writing in the 'verse' for me, but I really felt I wanted to put these fics out there, if people are brave enough to read.

**Steve**

"Are the kids coming?" I ask wearily.

It's frustrating, this illness that within days has weakened me so much. I feel like someone has plugged into my energy and drained me of it. Even talking is difficult, my voice hoarse and cracked. Danny has to lean close to hear me but I'll never complain about Danny being close. I may be dying but I'm not dead yet and I still feel the stirrings of lust and love deep inside for him.

"They're on the way," Danny assures me, perching on the side of the bed, fingers stroking the side of my face.

He looks so healthy, it isn't fair. It's like I've aged faster than him, left him behind as my body is ravaged with 'slaves disease'. We've spent the last few weeks contemplating this, knowing time was short. 

We stay quiet, it's a nice hospital room, peaceful, private. Danny has wasted no credit in making sure I've been kept comfortable the last months of my life at home. He was reluctant to have me moved but we knew, for the sake of the children, it would be best. Here the nurses can ensure I die with some dignity intact, my suffering minimised and controlled.

"I've got something to tell you," I admit to him. He gives a smile and gentles his fingers over my lips to hush me.

"We've said everything there is to say," he tells me gently. I can see it in his eyes, the pain and fear of losing me. He's strong, got years left ahead of him. He's strong enough to carry on without me, with the kids help, I've made him promise he'll enjoy life as much as he does now, while he still can. 

He doesn't want me to say goodbye.

I reach up weakly and pull his hand away, enough to have it rest at my heart instead, it's still beating and I want him to realise that as I give him a smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to say that," I inform him. I'm not dying until I see my children one more time. I need to know they'll be here for Danny so he doesn't have to cope alone. He swallows down and gives a watery smile, trying to be brave for my sake. "There's one thing I've never told you."

"What is it?" he asks me, leaning in again, to hear me better and because we both like the closeness.

"I wanted this," I tell him firmly. "To go before you. This is something I wanted and needed Danny."

His mouth twists and tears threaten at the admission but he holds them back for now. Still he doesn't reply, gives a small shake of his head but doesn't say anything. I continue, because I want to die without any secrets and he's right, we have said everything that's been needed to save for this last confession.

"I didn't want you to leave me here alone," I tell him, swallowing down hard on the lump in my own throat as he squeezes his eyes shut. "You understand why don't you?"

He nods silently and I squeeze his fingers where they lie on my chest.

"I can't do this," he says quickly, voice breaking. "I can't be alone either."

"Yes, yes you can," I tell him firmly. "You won't be alone, you've got the kids, you've got Jules and Mal."

"They aren't you," Danny replies, leaning down and resting his head against my shoulder. Damp seeps through the thin material of the hospital gown and we've not cried much over the last weeks, so I let him have his moment. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of Danny's coping with my death. I just have to trust in his strength, even if it's a little lacking right now. I weakly put an arm around him and hold him. 

We hold one another until the kids arrive.

~

"Danny. Haku?"

"I'm here baby."

"I love you."

"Love you more."

.....

"Steve?.....Steven?"

.....

"I love you baby. You'll never know how much I love you. Wait for me Steve. Promise me you'll wait for me."

~Fin~


	2. Danny

**Danny**

Danny found himself drifting again, most days he slept more than he was awake now and it would have been irksome at one time in his life. But he'd found peace with what was happening, he knew it wouldn't be long before he entered an eternal sleep. He shifted a little against the pillows and found Maui attending him, leaning down close to help him get a little more comfortable and giving him a small smile.

"Everything all right Danny?" Maui asked him, sitting down in the chair by his bed.

"Yes Maui, I'm fine," Danny assured him. "I don't need anything."

Maui leaned over and brushed a hand over his brow gently. Over the last few months Danny had done a lot of thinking about his past, the people who had filled it. Grace had moved back home to help take care of him and it had felt good to have Maui back also, another faithful and loyal slave attending him once more. They'd been through a lot together over the years. He remembered him as the young slave fresh out of training that he'd brought home all those years ago. There'd been a vulnerability about him and he'd been so untrusting of life in a household, the training camps had left him bitter and afraid of his future. It had taken some time and a lot of guidance from those around him to convince him he could be happy and cared for. That he could belong. There'd been many times Danny had nearly given up on him, times he'd found it hard to resist carting him off back to the markets. But Danny had always liked a challenge and though it had taken time, he'd managed to worm his way through Maui's defences and preconceptions. Maui had become one of the most loyal, caring and attentive slaves Danny had had the honour of owning and had went on to be a faithful servant to Grace as well. 

It gave Danny great peace of mind to know when he died Grace would be watched over by the man. He didn't grieve over having to leave her or John, knowing when he passed on, that they were good people, they'd live full lives. They were good Owners who accepted a slave was also a person, that Owner and slave should work together to form a perfect unity and synchronicity in creating a good household. He knew they'd pass on that knowledge and understanding to his grandchildren and that was an important legacy. It was something his fathers had shown and taught him. Both he and Steve had understood it and knew how important it was for the children to know it.

Maui sat watching him with a soft smile, continuing to stroke his brow and he seemed at peace also, despite having to attend his dying former Master.

"I keep having a dream," Danny informed him in a low tone. Maui had to lean close to hear properly, resting his hand on Danny's shoulder, but he didn't talk, allowing Danny to continue without interruption. "I'm on the beach, I can feel the sand in my toes and I'm by the house, just beyond the lanai. There's a person standing in the ocean, water lapping up to their knees. There's a soft breeze and I can taste the salt of the ocean on my tongue."

He pauses and tries to remember more but everything is hazy around the edges, as dreams often are. He's been having the same dream on and off for days now, always the same, he wakes with the taste of salt on his lips and he misses standing on the beach. He's not been able to leave his bed for a week now. Each time he wakes he thinks he's missing something important that he should remember, but it's only a dream and there's nothing to be drawn from it. Maui rubs at his shoulder gently as Danny sighs and looks over at the window wistfully.

What he'd give to go walk on the beach one last time, or surf the waves. Feel the sand under his feet, the water on his tongue and the heat of sun on his skin.

"I wake finding I want to go to them," Danny says after his long pause. "The figure in the ocean. It's like they are waiting for me but I can't move towards them, something holds me back and I wake up before I can move."

Maui gives him a soft smile and leans over to press a kiss to his cheek, fingers running gently over his brow again as he draws back.

"Perhaps you need to let go of whatever it is pulling you back to waking Haku," Maui says softly, barely a whisper but Danny can hear him, understands what he's saying to him.

Danny smiles, 'Haku', an old slave sentiment he hasn't heard for many years. It brings back soft, gentle memories of Laka and his Dad. Of Steve. He settles back against the pillows and closes his eyes, letting the memories wash over him in a haze.

He wakes later with the taste of salt on his lips again and the lingering feel of the sun on his skin is ebbing away. He was back on the beach again and he thinks he can hear the echoing hum of voices in his ears. It's dark now and Maui isn't attending him, instead John sits by him, nose buried in a book as always. John notices him shifting and looks up with concern, book forgotten and put aside as he sits up and reaches out to him.

"Dad?" he asks in concern.

"It's okay," Danny whispers with a soft croak. He feels more tired than ever now and thinks maybe Maui was right, perhaps it is time to stop resisting the pull of his dreams. "Are Grace and Nathan here?"

"Yeah, they're in the kitchen helping Maui clear away the supper dishes," John explains with a nod.

"Perhaps you should go get them," Danny says, feeling the urge to go to sleep again start to pull at the edges. He senses now it's time. He's long since settled his financial affairs, the will was written a long time ago. Everything is okay, he's secure in the knowledge his children will be cared for, that they will be strong for each other. 

He's said all he needs to say.

John bites down on his lower lip and looks a little bereft, as if he senses what his father is meaning. Danny feels his fingers in his and gives them a soft squeeze as John ducks his head to hide his emotions. Just like his Papi, Danny thinks and smiles. John has Steve's eyes, Steve's expressions and as he's become a man he's like Steve more than ever.

"Okay," John nods with a shaky voice and pulls away to go get his sister and brother.

Danny thinks he hears voices, people talking to him but there's nobody in the room, just him and a mind full of memories. He closes his eyes and picks at the memories as they come to him in flashes, the time he bought the house, filling it with slaves and creating a home. The time he brought Steve home, their first time making love. The pregnancies and becoming fathers. Watching the children grow up together. Nathan finding them and wanting to be part of their lives. It rushes past his eyes like a film on fast forward, everything mismatched. Being a child again and the happy memories of his Pop and Dad, Steve's face as he laughed the first time in his presence. 

Laka sitting with him at Pop's funeral.

_'you've got to give him a special place in there where you never have to say goodbye'_

He can feel people around him, the brush of gentle kisses against his skin and hair tickling at his nose. They tempt him back to waking, whispers of love hovering around him, but the memories pull stronger and he lets himself drift into the peace they create as whispers of goodbye follow him.

~

He's outside the house. It's a warm day and the warmth of the sun licks at his skin as he climbs the steps and opens the door. He can hear voices and follows the noise along the hall, catching a glance of himself in the mirror. He's young again, tanned skin, blonde hair slicked back, body toned and defined as it once had been. He feels light, energetic, full of life but in no rush to live as he once had. It's like he has all the time in the world. Forever. He's dressed in loose slacks and a thin white shirt that's cool against his skin. It should be strange because it's a him from a long time ago, but it doesn't concern him and he continues on, feeling a lightness about his pace like youth is back in his veins, as he nears the kitchen and dining area where the voices are. 

People are around the table, laughing and joking, people he knows. He smiles, the happiness and peace is infectious as he's drawn towards them and a hand comes to rest on his shoulder. Looking up to see who's stopped him he's staring into his Pop's eyes and drawn into a familiar tight bear hug he's not had in a long long time. He holds on tight and it should be confusing or frightening but instead it feels right, like it's where he belongs. In Pop's embrace he feels like a kid again, the warmth of protection and love his Pop gave him every day of his life. Nick pulls back and his Dad is right there next to him, pulling him forward and pressing a kiss to his forehead, another old familiar that tingles against his skin. Nick and John, together like they should be.

He looks at the others at the table, Kame is sitting laughing and looks up at him, eyes shining and he grins and laughs along with whatever it is they are all happy about. He draws near to the table, feeling a pull to join in with the laughter and ease, but another hand stops him, pulling him away and he turns to find Laka looking at him with a soft expression. Laka guides him to the door and nods out towards the beach and ocean. He stares out and makes out a figure standing just beyond the waters edge.

"He's been waiting for you," Laka says with a smile, giving him a small push. 

Danny walks out onto the lanai and pauses again. Looking back he sees his family all laughing and joking, only he doesn't hear them as clearly now. Turning away, their voices become like whispers as the breeze caresses his skin and the sun beats down. The person at the water doesn't move and Danny walks forward, stepping down off the lanai onto the sand, feeling it rush and settle between his toes. The sand is warm and heats the soles of his feet but it's comfortable and he feels light and airy, like he could lift off and float, but he doesn't want to.

There's a gentle pull at him, like someone pulling at tiny strings attached to his body to take him somewhere else but he fights the urge to go with them. He doesn't want to go anywhere but forward, towards the water. Laughing whispers come to him again, pushing him forward and he starts to walk with a purpose.

As he draws near he feels the beating of his heart pick up a little, it's strange because he hasn't felt it beating like that for a long time. But it's like excitement has encompassed him and is thrilling through his veins. He takes in the figure of the man in the water, it's all so familiar and perfect and him.

Steve.

Danny feels it's been a long time, a lifetime, an eternity since he last lay eyes on him. He stops and stares, like he's afraid the sea will swallow him up if he dares go closer. Steve moves, turning slowly, hands in his pockets of the rolled up slacks he's wearing. The breeze makes the soft shirt he wears flutter a little against his body. Danny exhales like he's been holding his breath for a very long time, feeling a thrum of happiness well up inside him when Steve smiles at him. A smile he's been missing in his life for too long now, years of emptiness suddenly filled again with that smile. Steve looks like he did when they first met only the look in his eyes is different, full of love instead of fear.

He's scared to move closer in case he loses him again. If they have to stand there on the beach looking at each other for the whole of eternity Danny doesn't care. But Steve gives a laugh, shakes his head at him, knowing his thoughts as he always has and walks towards him, water splashing up a little and wetting the edges of his trousers rolled at the knee.

"I've been waiting for you," Steve informs him, drawing so close Danny doesn't know if he's breathing his own air or Steve's.

"Sorry I took so long," Danny whispers back, reaching out and touching him, Steve moves into the touch and lifts his hands to cup his face.

Danny thinks there's a lot to say but later perhaps. He has a feeling they've got forever to speak. Instead he lets Steve tilt his head up to him, sliding a hand around the back of Steve's neck to draw him closer.

"Welcome home," Steve whispers reverently against his lips before they kiss. Danny melts into it like it's a life force, energy thrumming through him and pulling Steve closer so their bodies are pressing together in the way they were meant to.

The water of the sea rushes in and out against their feet and the sun keeps them warm. On the breeze he can hear the sound of happiness and on his lips, the taste of Steve.

~ fin ~


End file.
